1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fishing reels in general and more particularly, to a novel fishing reel having means by which the rate of rotation of the spool may be varied by readily adjustable gear mechanism.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
It has been the conventional practice to construct fishing reels with either a non-variable speed drive between the crank handle and the fishing line storage spool or with a set of alternate drive gears of different diameters so that either one or the other drive gear is engagable for speed control. Usually, when a pair of drive gears are incorporated into the mechanism, the ratios are either three to one or two to one in common with a one to one gear ratio. However, not all three gear ratios are available in a single construction. This limitation is largely due to the fact that space is restricted and it is extremely difficult to provide a selection mechanism for registering or aligning the crank handle with a selected drive gear which is speedy in adjustment and convenient to the user.
It must be borne in mind that a fisherman uses only one hand for turning the crank handle while his other hand is employed for supporting the fishing rod. Therefore, selection mechanism for aligning or registering the crank handle with the proper drive gear should be achieved by the user's hand turning the crank handle. Also, it is noted that prior selection or adjustment systems generally require removal of the hand from the crank handle so that various levers may be depressed or a variety of screws or latches may be turned. In other prior art systems, the user must at least manipulate certain fingers on the hand employed for turning the crank handle so that gear selection may be achieved. All of these procedures are awkward, cumbersome and detract from the fisherman's concentration on the fishing procedure. Also, the choice of gear ratios is extremely limited so that the fisherman must pre-select which reel to use depending upon his anticipated employment of gear ratio ranges. For example, in one instance the fisherman may choose a reel having a one to one ratio drive gear and a three to one drive gear while in another instance, he may choose a reel having a one to one ratio drive gear and a two to one ratio drive gear.
Therefore, it can be seen that a long standing need has existed to provide a novel speed control and mechanism for fishing reels which will offer the user at least three speeds of operation and which will provide a selection mechanism that is readily convenient to the fisherman and which may be operated with speed and without loss of concentration on the fishing procedure.